How ‘The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’ Poops on Completionists

Fans of open-world games know how often this type of experience can bring out the worst in us. While we’re willing to let everyday responsibilities slip through our fingers, dirty dishes pile up, and carpets go unvacuumed, something about open-world games compels us to scour their huge environments for every last quest, collectable and secret. And if you’re this type of person, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a rude awakening in store for you.

Throughout the land of Hyrule, 900 Korok Seeds lie in hiding, waiting for Link to find them. Even for an open-world game, that’s a whole lot of stuff to grab. While most players will pick up a healthy amount to hand over to the NPC Hetsu for the sake of expanding their inventory, the majority won’t undertake the herculean task of nabbing every last Korok Seed.

One Reddit user took a bullet for the rest of us Breath of the Wild players, and if you’re intent on having a complete collection of Korok Seeds, seeing what you get as a reward will probably change your mind:

That’s right, it’s a piece of poop—made of gold, no less. While players may view this as a middle finger for their dozens of hour spent scouring Hyrule for Korok Nuts, golden poop actually has a very specific meaning in Japan. Hetsu’s Gift is based on “Kin no Unko” (or, “the golden poop”), a collectable trinket that plays off of how “poop” and “luck” start with similar-sounding syllables in Japanese. For Breath of the Wild’s Japanese audience, this reward is meant to be a bit of pop-culture nostalgia, seeing as Kin no Unko took off in the late ’90s/early ’00s in a big way.

Even with this explanation, Hetsu’s Gift still amounts to an underwhelming reward. But really, after spending so many hours finding every Korok Nut, the last thing anyone would want is a reason to jump back in and play more Breath of the Wild. It’s a fantastic game, but earning Hetsu’s Gift could be a big sign that it’s time to finally walk away.

Bob Mackey is Games Editor at Fandom. Since joining the games press in 2007, he's written for sites like 1UP, Joystiq, The A.V. Club, Gamasutra, USgamer, and many others. He also hosts the weekly podcasts Retronauts and Talking Simpsons. Follow him on Twitter @bobservo.

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